Feature image on post excerpts
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I have almost got my travel blog behaving after four months on the road. However, when I tidied up my posts and put only an excerpt on display, I lost my feature pictures. Now, I only have text, images will not appear unless a reader clicks read more to open the full post. Is there any way of connecting my feature image with the post excerpt to make the blog more visually appealing?
The blog I need help with is: (visible only to logged in users)
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Hi,
I don’t find the posts (blog) page on https://dogslegs.wordpress.com/, and it appears that you’ve chosen to use category pages as gateways to the single posts.
The automatically generated category pages don’t display featured images. What you could do is to replace each auto-generated category page with a customized category page created by inserting display posts shortcode in a static page. Include in the shortcode an image size argument. The size options are thumbnail, medium, and large. I believe the last image uploaded to each post will be the one displayed when using such a code.
The posts page would display the full posts by default, with featured images. The portion of each post displayed on the posts page may be reduced. This is done by inserting a More tag in each post at the point where you would like it to be truncated on the posts page.
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Hi there.
Thanks so much for your effort in replying. It does sound very complicated though. Is there any way that I could have done things differently in setting up the blog to avoid this problem? Just in case I decide to start over one dayou.
Thanks,
Brett -
Brett,
I would agree that using WordPress.com is rather complicated. And it is much more so than it was when I first began using it in 2008.
In two tests I just made, the Hemingway Rewritten theme was not among the limited options suggested during WordPress.com’s create a new site process. Therefore, I had to choose to skip the theme selection portion of the process, and consequently my selection of “A welcome page…” at the “What would you like your homepage to look like?” page was ignored, and the site was created with the default posts page on the front page.
These results suggest to me that you may have originally had the posts page displayed on the front page. If this was the case, then to change the front page to a static page you would have set a static front page at Customize > Static Front Page, as described in the Set a Static “Home” Page (Front Page) support page. At the same location, you may choose another page on which to display your posts page. You may wish to create a new page titled “Posts” or “Blog” for this purpose.
A link to the post page will not appear automatically in your custom menu. You must add it as you added other items.
Hope this helps.
Regards,
doc -
Ok doc,
Again, thanks for your time. It sounds like you understand the process inside out. I will attempt to adjust things when I arrive somewhere with better Internet.
Much obliged,
Brett -
Brett,
You’re welcome. I probably made that more complicated than necessary. The most important parts of my last post for you at this point are the following:
1. If you haven’t already done so, you can set a page on which to display your posts at Customize > Static Front Page, where, if you choose “Front page displays a static page,” you will find drop-down menus labeled “Front page” and “Posts page” to choose from.
2. Once you’ve assigned a page on which to display your posts, or if you previously had done so, you’ll probably want to add a link to it to your custom menu.
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Hi Doc,
Well, your advice has helped. I’ve sorted out the tangle of pages and posts and now the layout is a little more conventional. I still can’t seem to stitch a featured image to my excerpts though. I have tried the short code option as you suggested without result.
The code I am using is;
[display-posts tag="advanced" image_size="thumbnail"]Where exactly in the post should it be placed in order to be effective?
Thanks again for your help,
Brett -
Hi Brett,
The use of display posts shortcode I suggested above was an alternative to using the automatically generated category pages that you previously, if I recall correctly, had numerous links to in your menu.
If you’re intending now to place featured images in your post excerpts on the front page display posts shortcode is unnecessary. Just add a featured image to each post as described in the Featured Images support page.
Regarding the code
[display-posts tag="advanced" image_size="thumbnail"]
This would display title links of the ten most recent posts with the “advanced” tag assigned to it, including a thumbnail size featured image for each, drawn from the images uploaded to each post. If you leave out the ‘tag=”advance”‘ part, it should work.Where exactly in the post should it be placed in order to be effective?
If you were going to use that on your front page, it would go in a static front page, rather than in a post. But since you’re not using a static front page, you may disregard display posts shortcode for now.
Regards,
doc -
I ordinarily think of display posts shortcode as an option to use when one wishes to create a customized category page, but it needn’t be limited to that. Display posts shortcode is a versatile tool that may be used in posts, pages, and widgets effectively. I wouldn’t recommend using it on the front page in this case, because too much would be lost. For example, you’d forfeit the following:
- large font titles
- dates on a separate lines
- links to comments beneath the titles
- sharing buttons
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Hi Doc,
Thanks very much. I think I understand. I is certainly a lot better now than it was before you input.
Many thanks,
Brett -
Hi Brett,
You’re welcome. Btw, did you try the shortcode
[display-posts image_size="thumbnail"]
to see how it look? You can insert it in a draft page or post just to see what it looks like in preview. -
I tried it just then. It doesn’t bring the feature image to the excerpt, and the shortcode isn’t hidden in the visual format.
I think that acceptance is taking over. Thanks very much, again
Brett -
It doesn’t bring the feature image to the excerpt,
Have you applied featured images to the posts? In your 2016 post archives page, I find no featured images applied to the posts.
and the shortcode isn’t hidden in the visual format.
The shortcode should be inserted in text mode of either a page or post. Then switch to visual mode to see the list displayed. It may also be inserted into a text widget.
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Hi Doc,
I’ve done battle with this all afternoon and I still can’t make it work. Of the 23 posts I have made, 18 have a featured image attached. They work perfectly when I submit the posts in full version, but because each is 1500-2000 words, it makes the blog very difficult to navigate. As soon as I reduce the full post to an excerpt, the featured image is lost. It will appear on the full version when it is clicked on, but it fails to attach to the excerpt, or the archive list.
I’ve trawled through every link you have suggested and tried numerous alternatives adjusting layout, image size, shortcode etc. Nothing seems to make a difference with this. I’ve also gone through the Hemingway specifications, and from what I can see, everything is set correctly and within the legal requirements. However, still no joy.
I think I’m going to have to give up on it. But I do thank you for your help. You’ve committed a lot of time to this yourself. I appreciate that.
Brett
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Hi Brett,
As soon as I reduce the full post to an excerpt, the featured image is lost. It will appear on the full version when it is clicked on, but it fails to attach to the excerpt, or the archive list.
How have you reduced full posts to excerpts? Are you using More Tags to truncate posts on the posts page?
I hadn’t had much experience with the Hemingway Rewritten theme. It looked to me that on the demo featured images were displaying on some posts on the posts page. That apparently isn’t the case. On a test site, I was unable to get a featured image to display on the posts page, regardless of the post format assigned to the posts. On this theme, a featured image assigned to a post are used to replace the site header image (if any) on the single post. So I have duplicated your results on the blog page regarding featured images. They do not display. However, I didn’t reduce my posts to excerpts to produce this effect. The featured images do not appear on the blog page when the full post is displayed. They do appear on the single post, where they replace the site header.
Regarding display posts shortcode
A correction to one of my earlier posts:The shortcode should be inserted in text mode of either a page or post…
Actually, it shouldn’t matter which mode it’s inserted in. In my tests, it works whether I insert it in text mode or visual mode.
You said, regarding the display posts shortcode I suggested:It doesn’t bring the feature image to the excerpt, and the shortcode isn’t hidden in the visual format.
Neither the featured image, nor the list will appear in the editor. You may see it by saving the draft and checking the preview of the post or page the shortcode is inserted into.
The fact the posts (blog) page doesn’t display featured images doesn’t have any effect on a page with customized display posts shortcode including an image size argument. In my test on a site with Hemingway Rewritten applied, the shortcode
[display-posts image_size="thumbnail"]
displays, in a test I just made, a lists of post title links, with a thumbnail of the featured image preceding each title. This shortcode doesn’t include an excerpt. To include an excerpt I would use
[display-posts include_excerpt="true" image_size="thumbnail"]
This shortcode also worked perfectly for me in a test.doc
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Brett,
You may add a “modlook” tag to the sidebar of this topic to call for staff attention. Staff will have access to your post/page editors, and will be able to tell you why the display posts shortcode you’ve inserted is not working as it should.
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